Sunday 7 December 2008

Let's Make a Song and Dance About It...

Okay, so normally I don’t watch Britannia High, it’s a little bit too cheesy for my tastes, however I watched ‘Charlie Brookers Screen Wipe’ and ‘Never Mind the Buzzcocks’ and both made reference to the Dyslexia storyline which is afflicting one of the main characters. In this episode of the all singing, all dancing High School Musical based drama, Danny, played by Mitch Hewer (of Skins fame), has his undisclosed suffering of dyslexia brought very publically to the surface, while interviewing two members of Girls allowed. Unable to read the cue cards the normally confident Danny’s mind starts to play out an elaborate song & dance number based on the torturous relationship he has with the written word.



It’s reassuring that teen dramas such as this are in fact tackling the issue of dyslexia, however, the fact that this condition is only present in Hewers character on an irregular bases has sparked responses from dyslexics who are annoyed by the misrepresentation within the plot:



Having watched both now, I do understand why David Morgan, from yourfaceisanadvert.com, is annoyed by the portrayal of dyslexics and the lack of realisms which it is rooted to the show’s plot. The character flipping from a high achieving student to one who cannot read cue cards is possibly a tad unrealistic even for a teen drama where conditions tend to be shown in extremes. However, I do believe the fact that such shows are portraying characters with dyslexia at all is a great step forward & will be reassuring lots of the adolescents who are watching it.

Plus, where is the harm in associating celebrities with the condition as examples of high achievements. Fair enough actors are possibly not the best ones, but they are people whom children/teens will know and respond too. As a response to this I’ve also searched the web for well known people who’ve suffered from the condition, these include:

Leonardo da Vinci; Winston Churchill; Walt Disney; Erin Brockovich; Thomas Edison; Albert Einstein; John Lennon; Pablo Picasso; George Washington; Alexander Graham Bell; Michael Farraday; Ansel Adams; Auguste Rodine; Andy Warhol; Richard Branson; W. B. Yeats; Issac Newton; Fred Epstien; Fred Astaire; Orlando Bloom; Anthony Hopkins; Billy Connolly; Eddie Izzard; Will Smith; John F. Kennedy; David Bailey; Michelangelo; Steven Spielberg; Tommy Hilfiger; Hans Christian Anderson; Ernest Hemmingway; Lewis Carroll; Mark Twain; Jamie Oliver; Henry Winkler; Patrick Dempsey; Agatha Christie; River Phoenix; Keira Knightly; Ann Bancroft; Live Tyler; Danny Glover...there are hundreds more.

2 comments:

Qin Han said...

Leonardo da Vinci... i believe it... the notes that you have to read in a mirrow did not come all that accidentally, did they?

Emily Boyd said...

Nope. His note taking style is actually the main reason why people think da Vinci was Dyslexic. Reveresed writing is actually a common problem that some dyslexics suffer from.

I always thought the fact that he mirrored all is writing was amazing! But seeing it's just a theory about him, maybe he was just being sneaky...or maybe not that many people had mirrors ;)